UK and BACK

The plan to go back to UK for Lucy’s 1st birthday was a good one. We booked the flight and Michael suggested we took the car back to Spain. This opened up the possibility of taking electric blankets and duvets and microwaves from the house, and more clothes and hairdryer, and before we knew it the boot of the car was stretched to capacity. I soon abandoned the idea of finding new clothes from the suitcase and managed to live out of 2 carrier bags for the fortnight.

We forgot to bring back some decent cutlery and a blender to make soup, but these were mere details. What we loved was seeing all our families and friends, being picked up from the airport, by Sue, staying with Barbara – a haven of tranquillity, Dinner with Di, The German market in Leeds with Ju. The fun factory in Menston with Michael and girls, The birthday party with everyone! We were able to have lunch with Michael’s daughter and family, Michael was given a personal photo album of his granddaughter’s wedding in Cyprus. We had a relaxed time with Nina, enjoying her free day with lunch at Epsom racecourse, and then the last 3 days in Southsea /  Portsmouth with Bren before catching the ferry to Santander. a spanish tapas bar and yes we went up the spinaker and had amazing views of Portsmouth. The trip home was very exciting. Firstly we escaped the big freeze by a day. We could have been stranded in snow in Madrid. However placing total trust in the satnav, and with no map – for goodness sake, we became lost in the centre of Madrid and added 200k to the journey, arriving home sometime after midnight. We were very very lucky!

We lost no time in putting our presents under the tree. Christmas came very very early in Alfaz!

life in Alfaz

It has been several weeks since the last post, in fact we have been back to England for a fortnight, returning in the nick of time, before the snow and ice hit europe –in November!My enthusiasm for writing is wilting because of a jumbling up of the words as I type them –must get the computor man back.

Before we left the fiestas in Alfaz entertained us for 5 days and nights! There were parades, and fireworks, and dancing and eating at all hours.The climax was a candlelit procession, where a huge statue of Christ on the cross is carried by 12 men through the streets, in silence followed by the townsfolk, and back into the church. This statue was given to the town 300 years ago by the bishop of Valencia, sent by boat to Albir, and hauled up the hill to the church. So this event is celebrated every year These street decorations are dismantled, only to be put up again at the beginning of December We like Alfaz, it is a lively town, with its own customs and is also very cosmoplitan, having 54 nationalities living here. Alfaz includes the seaside resort of Albir, which is a 15 minute cycle ride away( – yet to be done!)It is the only place apart from London to have a xmas tree donated by Norway.